A/N: Thanks for the reviews again =). I had fun writing the past two chapters and so are the next few. Anyways, thought I'd just drop by to update the fic. Enjoy the holidays. Speaking of Holidays, I'll hopefully make an update for Christmas =).

Chapter 3: Bolt succumbs to the computer

The next day…

Bolt was out in the garden trying to keep his eyes wide open. He was restless. He slept late last night playing Zombies4Life. He never had so much fun in playing a game. It was like the same addiction back when he was in the studio. Perhaps it all felt so real and that was the appeal. Bolt was slowly losing the battle to stay awake.

"Mornin' wags."

Bolt's head rose from being startled. "Target acquired." He then realized it was Mittens.

"Uh… Bolt? What are you doing?"

Bolt then realized that he was pointing toward Mittens an air gun (similar to an air guitar if you know what I mean). A bit embarrassed by what had happened, he hid his paws. "Nothing."

Mittens looked a bit closer. "You look terrible. Did you sleep?"

"I'm fine Mittens."

"I can't believe this. You played the whole night, didn't you?"

"No, Mittens I…"

"Hey there, Bolt." They both look seeing Penny come closer. Penny squat down looking at Bolt "How's my silly doggy? You wanna come and… Bolt, are you okay?"

To hide the stress, Bolt made a cheerful bark and tried to climb through Penny's lap and slobbered around her face.

"Alright, Alright, Bolt. Okay, I'm off to school. See ya' later Bolt, Mittens." She said as the school bus stopped in front of her. She climbed to the steps. The door closed and the bus was now off. Bolt and Mittens watched the bus leave. When the bus was gone, Mittens tried to console Bolt, who she thought was still beside her.

"Bolt, you gotta stop playing before it takes over your life." Mittens explained. "Bolt? Bolt?" She looked beside her, but Wags was no more.

Back at Penny's room, Bolt was up playing once more. At his back, Mittens just watched as her friend was slowly succumbing to the computer. Mittens just breathed a sigh of disappointment and made her way downstairs.

Back down, Mittens made her way to the living room, only to be greeted by another pet glued to the magic box.

Iraqi police were met with insurgent fire over a nearby city in Baghdad. Around noon local time, the US Marines reinforced the local police. Casualties have yet to be reported… It's got to be an infection. It's got to be meningitis. Do an LP to confirm… St. Elmo's fire lit up the whole of the plane in a bright glow. Unknown to the pilots, this was only the beginning for Flight 9…

"I've seen that a million times already."

Mittens approached the hamster. "Rhino, notice anything strange about Bolt?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"Aw come on, Rhino. Not even a teeny bit?"

"No."

"Oh what do you know?" She said leaving the living room. "You guys are all the same anyways."

"Yeah, see you later cat." He said, eyes not leaving the television set.

Outside the house, Mittens could not help but rant about what has happened. "Those two, you know what, I can move on, even if I'd do it all by myself."

One week later…

Bolt was still glued to his seat, shooting ever more zombies with each passing day. Unknown to him, Mittens was observing him from the outside through the window. She could see his face. His eyes wide and red from overuse. And yet, he does not seem to stop. The only thing good about Bolt is that he never gives up on something. And here he is, totally misusing that trait. She then suddenly saw Bolt bark violently toward the monitor, apparently, his character got zombie-eaten. Later that night, she was eating the food on her bowl and noticed that Bolt's dog bowl was still full. He has not come down yet. When he finally did, something was throwing him off. He apparently got in a bad gaming session where he died a lot. His mood could be felt around, Mittens did not even ask what was wrong on the fears that he would react violently. Bolt just ate. His eyes wide open to any slight movements. Where ever he heard sound, his head followed. He was apparently becoming a little paranoid and Penny took notice. "Is there something wrong, Bolt?" but Bolt just smiled and continued to eat.

Two days later…

Mittens could hear Bolt finally going back to Penny's arms on the bed after gaming for four hours straight after Penny's lights out. Later in the night, Mittens woke up to the noise of Bolt growling in his sleep. Apparently, he was having a really bad dream. Bolt did not have any more ammunition and was now being chased by zombies. It was funny considering that the secondary weapon, pistols, had unlimited ammunition, but Bolt never figured out how to use the secondary. Mittens tried covering her head with a pillow and tried to sleep for the rest of the night. The growling suddenly turned to howling. Penny actually woke up during the night and tried comfort her dog. "It's okay, Bolt. You were just having a bad dream." Mittens just looked at the two and gave some comfort in her eyes knowing that Penny had somehow calmed Bolt down.

The next day did not come long. They were all up, including Bolt. Bolt sat still on the grassy garden field. His eyes focused on nothing and front legs shaking. His guard must have been down because he did not even notice the ball Penny threw towards him. It smacked his face and knocked him off the ground. "Bolt!" Penny yelled.

At the vet, the doctor waved a flashlight over Bolt's eyes. Bolt seemed fine, the doctor summarized, though he was suffering from a lot of stress. Penny did not understand how that could have happened. She did notice that Bolt seemed a little tired too often and wondered what could have caused him to be so.

Two days later…

Rhino has surfed through about 100 channels now, and he still could not find a decent channel to be glued on.

Two days later…

Mittens threw a stick as far as she could. "Go fetch it, Bolt." She looked behind her and he was not even there. "Oh yeah." Mittens sighed. Ever since that new computer, the situation has gone absolutely ridonculuos.